Over Exercising? What is going on?
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lydiapassthedonuts
Posts: 71 Member
I am a woman "of that age". Since hitting perimenopause life has been a REAL STRUGGLE. I have over 50 lbs to lose and I don't see it doing what I think it should be doing.
There are many factors that could be causing this and I would like to get some ideas of what I need to change / look in to.
According to MFP, I get 1200 cal a day. I'm not very active unless I go to the gym.
My schedule:
Monday: body works with abs class (no impact, uses 5 lb weights at most, 50 minutes), treadmill 30 minutes
Tuesday: water aerobics / water walking, 2 hours
Wednesday: zumba 50 min, yoga 50 min
Thursday: water aerobics / water walking, 2 hours
Friday: day off, just a short walk, errands stuff
Saturday: zumba 50 min OR water aerobics / walking walking 90 min
Sunday day off
I am limited to my activity due to injuries (old knee injuries and plantar fasciitis), so many modifications are needed during land classes. I try to burn around 1000 calories while at the gym. If I eat those back I'll only eat half.
When I'm not at the gym I have a very sedentary life behind a computer. so pretty much my only activity during the week is at the gym.
So, when I was younger and doing this I would have been in shape by now. I know getting older changes so much about how the body works.
I'm within my calories, I try to eat healthy. And I work out.
My issue: I'm not losing weight. I've changed my workout routine to see if that would do something. It pretends to lose weight one week and then I'm up again the following weeks.
I drink my water, I stay within my daily calories.
What can I change? What do I need to change?
If I talk to doctors, what kind of doctors do I need to talk to?
There are many factors that could be causing this and I would like to get some ideas of what I need to change / look in to.
According to MFP, I get 1200 cal a day. I'm not very active unless I go to the gym.
My schedule:
Monday: body works with abs class (no impact, uses 5 lb weights at most, 50 minutes), treadmill 30 minutes
Tuesday: water aerobics / water walking, 2 hours
Wednesday: zumba 50 min, yoga 50 min
Thursday: water aerobics / water walking, 2 hours
Friday: day off, just a short walk, errands stuff
Saturday: zumba 50 min OR water aerobics / walking walking 90 min
Sunday day off
I am limited to my activity due to injuries (old knee injuries and plantar fasciitis), so many modifications are needed during land classes. I try to burn around 1000 calories while at the gym. If I eat those back I'll only eat half.
When I'm not at the gym I have a very sedentary life behind a computer. so pretty much my only activity during the week is at the gym.
So, when I was younger and doing this I would have been in shape by now. I know getting older changes so much about how the body works.
I'm within my calories, I try to eat healthy. And I work out.
My issue: I'm not losing weight. I've changed my workout routine to see if that would do something. It pretends to lose weight one week and then I'm up again the following weeks.
I drink my water, I stay within my daily calories.
What can I change? What do I need to change?
If I talk to doctors, what kind of doctors do I need to talk to?
5
Replies
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How are you estimating that you're burning 1,000 calories at the gym?
Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?15 -
Weight loss is more about the amount of food you put in your mouth. Start logging religiously, using a food scale to weigh everything. No skipping, cheating, or forgetting.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1
ETA: Oh, yeah. And your exercise calories are not realistic, at all... Try eating back a quarter, instead of half.
13 -
I am not seeing anything in your description of your workouts that would be burning 1000 calories, I'd probably estimate about half of that at most unless you're very obese. So if you're not accurately logging food (i.e. weighing foods and choosing correct items) then it'd be quite possible that you're in less of a deficit than you think.
Have you also tried using a trendweight app, your scale isn't pretending that you've lost weight, your body weight fluctuates constantly from more than fat, so it might just be that your expectation of how much you should be losing is a bit optimistic too.
14 -
I wouldn't consider that over-exercising, but you may indeed be over-estimating your calorie burns.
Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings13 -
I'm not a professional, but the workouts you listed don't seem to be 1,000-calorie burning workouts. I'd wager around 450-500 calories tops for those, with the exception of maybe 2 hours of water aerobics, but of course that would depend on the intensity of your water walking.
Try changing those exercise estimations, and eat within that calorie limit, see how that works for you?8 -
Try examining this:
9 -
First things first. Food scale, eat most meals prepared by you.
I just wanted to address the age thing.
A lot of women on this site (me included) have lost weight during peri-menopause or post-menopause. I didn't find my numbers for calories to be difficult to discern. Once I started really paying attention to them and to getting better nutrition, I lost weight at the rate I chose. I just don't think age has a lot to do with it. It's more about food and to a smaller degree activity. When you were younger you were likely much more active in general. If you've just started this rather strenuous exercise, that could be adding stress/water as well.
Stay the course. Pay attention to those Food Scale threads above and to that flow chart.15 -
First thing that sticks out to me:
How are you coming up with 1,000 calorie burns?
For me, burning 1,000 calories for me is an 8 or 9 mile run, which takes an hour to 90 minutes.
How long have you been stuck? Water weight fluxations can happen, particularly when changing exercises.
How sure are you about your intake? Are you weighing things?
If you were to talk to someone, more than a doctor, I'd look into speaking with a registered dietitian.9 -
janejellyroll wrote: »How are you estimating that you're burning 1,000 calories at the gym?
Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?
I'm using a fitbit, I know it's not accurate, but I use it as a guide.
I weigh my food.1 -
lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »How are you estimating that you're burning 1,000 calories at the gym?
Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?
I'm using a fitbit, I know it's not accurate, but I use it as a guide.
I weigh my food.
If the results you're seeing aren't matching your calorie burn estimates (and assuming there are no errors in estimating your calorie intake), then you now know the Fitbit is over-estimating your calorie burn.
How long have you been doing this and not losing weight?14 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »I am not seeing anything in your description of your workouts that would be burning 1000 calories, I'd probably estimate about half of that at most unless you're very obese.
I AM obese. I weigh 230. My doc wants me down to at least 165. And that just gets me into the high end she wants me at.
Even according to MFP I can burn 900 calories in a Zumba class. My fitbit is pretty darn close to what MFP estimates. I never eat all my calories back. IF I do eat them, it's only half. So on a high-calorie day I may eat up to 1600 calories. I rarely do that.
I rarely eat out, I cook my own food, am very diligent on weighing/measuring.
3 -
How long have you been eating in a deficit? How long have you been doing this exercise? Have you not seen ANY weight loss on the scale or just less than you expect (your original post states both so it's unclear)? Do you use a weight trending app to help you see through the scale fluctuations?
Look at the chart posted by @GaryRuns2 -
How long have you been doing this? It isn't unusual, especially when adding exercise in for it to take some time to start dropping weight. In fact, when I start adding new, high calorie burning exercises, I can usually count on 4-6 weeks where I gain weight before I start to lose.2
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janejellyroll wrote: »lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »How are you estimating that you're burning 1,000 calories at the gym?
Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?
I'm using a fitbit, I know it's not accurate, but I use it as a guide.
I weigh my food.
If the results you're seeing aren't matching your calorie burn estimates (and assuming there are no errors in estimating your calorie intake), then you now know the Fitbit is over-estimating your calorie burn.
How long have you been doing this and not losing weight?
I have lost SOME weight over the past year. So it is doing SOMETHING. But the past 2 months I seem to be losing and gaining it right back.2 -
lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »I am not seeing anything in your description of your workouts that would be burning 1000 calories, I'd probably estimate about half of that at most unless you're very obese.
I AM obese. I weigh 230. My doc wants me down to at least 165. And that just gets me into the high end she wants me at.
Even according to MFP I can burn 900 calories in a Zumba class. My fitbit is pretty darn close to what MFP estimates. I never eat all my calories back. IF I do eat them, it's only half. So on a high-calorie day I may eat up to 1600 calories. I rarely do that.
I rarely eat out, I cook my own food, am very diligent on weighing/measuring.
MFP's exercise calorie calculator is pretty notorious in terms of overestimating calories. Given how buoyant people are in the water, I wouldn't expect that your weight would factor much into how many calories you'd burn while water walking or doing water aerobics. Regardless, nothing you've written even hints at over exercising and even if it did, that would contribute to your not losing weight.
Essentially you need to reevaluate how many calories you're burning and potentially tighten up your logging. If you haven't been losing weight then the issue is how many calories you're consuming.5 -
lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »How are you estimating that you're burning 1,000 calories at the gym?
Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?
I'm using a fitbit, I know it's not accurate, but I use it as a guide.
I weigh my food.
If the results you're seeing aren't matching your calorie burn estimates (and assuming there are no errors in estimating your calorie intake), then you now know the Fitbit is over-estimating your calorie burn.
How long have you been doing this and not losing weight?
I have lost SOME weight over the past year. So it is doing SOMETHING. But the past 2 months I seem to be losing and gaining it right back.
When it "seems" that way, what are you observing? Are you using a trend weight app or some other method to track your weight?
Typically if you've been losing weight well and it stops for eight weeks (with no other big changes), it means you've found the number of calories you need to maintain. If you're eating 1,200 calories some days and 1,700 calories other days, this potentially means that the combination of those calorie levels is giving you the number you need to maintain your current weight. Again, this is assuming that there aren't many errors in how you're logging your calorie intake.
I'm thinking that you're likely over-estimating your calorie burns. You may not have a great handle of how your weight is actually trending (it's hard to tell). And logging errors are really common, so I don't know if I would automatically rule those out, even with you using a food scale for all solid food (you still might have some database entries that are off).6 -
lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »How are you estimating that you're burning 1,000 calories at the gym?
Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?
I'm using a fitbit, I know it's not accurate, but I use it as a guide.
I weigh my food.
Just to be clear - that is what Fitbit is saying the workout is burning?
Or that is the calorie adjustment you see on MFP?
(which is more than just the workout calories, but any increase in activity above whatever level you told MFP)
And if you selected say Sedentary on MFP - that adjustment of extra calories may not be dead on correct for the high number you see - but 0 extra is also dead on wrong.
You do more, you eat more.3 -
I guess for now I will start over in the kitchen and be patient. I have seen an improvement, maybe I'm just not giving it enough time.
I get stuck and I compare this time to the younger me when I lost 160 lbs in my late 20's. I KNOW how to do this journey. At least, I know how it worked the first time.
This time has been very different. AGE REALLY DOES CHANGE THINGS!!! I've had a *kitten* time with the whole pausal of men time. It's really done a number to my life.
And I do have thyroid issues. And last year my liver was bad, doctors couldn't figure out why. But, last numbers on my blood work were ok. Guess I could get that looked at again just so I can rule that out.7 -
lydiapassthedonuts wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »I am not seeing anything in your description of your workouts that would be burning 1000 calories, I'd probably estimate about half of that at most unless you're very obese.
I AM obese. I weigh 230. My doc wants me down to at least 165. And that just gets me into the high end she wants me at.
Even according to MFP I can burn 900 calories in a Zumba class. My fitbit is pretty darn close to what MFP estimates. I never eat all my calories back. IF I do eat them, it's only half. So on a high-calorie day I may eat up to 1600 calories. I rarely do that.
I rarely eat out, I cook my own food, am very diligent on weighing/measuring.
As Doctor Nick says, "Sure, you can burn what you want. It's a free country". Most people take MFP's calorie burn numbers with a pinch of salt and learn to use accurate intake tracking and weight loss rate tracking to eventually figure out an accurate number for what they're actually burning. That's where that eat half back advice comes from, that and the tendency of people to reduce activity in general in response to exercise.
A fitbit with heart rate can have a lot of issues with something like a Zoomba. Heart rate tracking for calorie burns work for cardio that has a very consistent pattern to it, while depending on changes in tempo, something a Zoomba could be more like HIT - jumping heart rates up because of a short burst of activity, with the heart no longer accurately being a measure of energy use when as activity comes down.
Even for something consistent like a treadmill walk or run, some individuals have elevated heart rates or otherwise won't get an accurate calorie burn without adjustments.8 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I wouldn't consider that over-exercising, but you may indeed be over-estimating your calorie burns.
Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
done.1
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